1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a shared information processing system wherein a plurality of users can communicate simultaneously by sharing one of virtual chat rooms, called a channel, set up on a network by a server and clients interconnected over the network, and notifying other clients of a chat character string inputted by a user through a client.
2. Description of Related Art
With a chat system consisting of a chat server and a plurality of chat clients interconnected over a network, a virtual chat room called a channel that is set up on the network is shared by a plurality of chat clients, thus configuring a chat system that allows text messages to be sent and received in real time.
A user participates in one of channels by operating a client terminal where a chat client application is installed. Here, a user is uniquely designated within a channel by an identifier called a nickname. To send a message into the channel, a user inputs text from a client terminal, and this text is sent along with the nickname to the chat server. The chat server broadcasts the text message sent from one chat client to all the other chat clients participating on the same channel.
The explosive growth of the Internet has led to collaborative work projects becoming frequent, where users work together connected through information terminals, and the chat system described above is sometimes used for such collaborative work projects. For instance, if a plurality of users engage in a chat session within a channel using client terminals with chat clients installed, they can conduct a real-time electronic meeting in which this channel serves as an electronic meeting room.
Aside from this, in the viewing of documents and the like found on a shared server or a web page accessible through a network, the addresses of web pages and so forth that are frequently visited by a user are registered in a web browser by utilizing a function called “favorites” or “bookmark,” so that these sites can be viewed again with ease merely by selecting the desired address from a list of registered addresses. Thus, when a “favorite” or “bookmark” is registered in the web browser, frequently viewed web pages, documents, and so forth can be accessed more easily, but to find out whether the contents of a web page or document have been updated, such a web page or the like must be accessed through the web browser and actually opened and checked, or an update notification must be received by electronic mail (e-mail), or the addresses of highlighted files are registered to and supervised by a dedicated client for monitoring update information.
Even if update information about a web page registered as a “favorite” or “bookmark” of the web browser is acquired by e-mail or a dedicated client, the information only reveals that there has been an update, so to find out what the update actually consists of, a user must open that web page with the web browser and check its contents.
And while notification will be made if there has been an update on a document on a shared server, a user must actually open that document to check its contents.
Furthermore, with a web page, this information is personally managed by the administrator of that web page, and cannot be managed or viewed in common by a plurality of peers on the network.
With the chat system such as the one described above, the sending and receiving of a given text message through a channel on a network is performed by a plurality of client terminals where a chat client application is installed; enabling information pertaining to files frequently used by a user and registered at each client terminal to be sent and received in this same way, would facilitate the sharing of information with other clients or the server.